


They Laugh that Win

by A_F_S_M_A_S



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Aang Week 2021, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-16 05:47:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29571261
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/A_F_S_M_A_S/pseuds/A_F_S_M_A_S
Summary: Three times when Aang laughs.Aang Week, Day 1Prompt: Laughter
Comments: 6
Kudos: 22





	They Laugh that Win

“I’ve never seen a baby this young smile so much,” says Sister Dechen, admiring the babe in Sister Yeshe’s arms. He wiggles from head to toe, turning his face from side to side as Yeshe tries to wipe away the drops of milk from his lips and cheek.

“Only a week old and he spends half his waking moments with a smile on his face.”

The sisters who maintain the nursery have an unspoken rule not to show favoritism of any kind, to show equal love and attention to every child in their care. But they can’t help it with Aang. He cries the least, he always shows how much he loves the attention that the nuns give him, and he’s smiling more often than not. Aang can’t laugh yet, but his coos already have the rhythm down.

“Is it true he smiled on the day he was born?” asks Dechen.

Yeshe nods. “Mother Iio handled the delivery herself. She told me that the moment she held him up into the sunlight, he stopped crying and smiled at her.”

Dechen sees the truth of that before her eyes, watching Aang rock himself in Yeshe's arms, reaching up for a finger, chin, or cheek to grab hold of. He lets out a series of grunts that passes for a chuckle. “This boy has more energy than his little body can handle.”

“Indeed.”

“He might end up being a terror when he’s older. He’ll be running faster than the wind and tormenting his guardians.”

Yeshe shakes her head. “No. Not this boy.”

* * *

The men of the Northern and Southern Air Temple see to the education of the boys, guiding them along their paths into manhood, but only after they turn four, when they leave the nuns to join their fellow monks. Until then, all of the children of the Air Nomads are entirely the purview of the nuns.

But Monk Gyatso is different. Whenever he visits the Western or Eastern Temples, he always stops by the nurseries, the play areas, or wherever the children are running amok, burning out their seemingly endless energy by playing games with one another and fleeing from their caregivers. The nuns always welcome his visits, as it gives them the chance to rest and let someone else handle airbending toddlers.

Today is no exception, though Mother Iio has a surprise for him. In the nursery, she beckons Gyatso to take a seat as she lifts a one year old from his nearby crib. He’s a chubby thing, with big gray eyes, round cheeks, and two arms and two legs that he flails in the air.

“Hello, Aang,” Gyatso greets the boy, all too happy to accept Aang into his arms, seating him on his lap. “Mother Iio tells me you’re quite the happy boy.”

The baby stares up at the funny monk, his eyes fixed on the long mustache dangling in front of him. Before Gyatso or anyone can stop it, Aang grabs a fistful of whiskers and pulls, yanking several hairs from the monk’s lip. Gyatso flinches from the pain, but his reaction doesn’t last long. Aang laughs, shaking his fistful of stolen plunder. Mother Iio and the other nuns can’t help but laugh in turn, even as they cover their mouths with their hands. Gyatso can’t resist either. He smiles through his gritted teeth, a chuckle escaping his throat.

Iio steps up behind him and places her hand on his shoulder. “How wonderful the laughter of children is. Wouldn’t you agree, brother?”

Gyatso nods, wondering what he did in life to earn the stinging sensation in his lips, and wonders what he did to deserve being lucky enough to be able to make children laugh so much.

* * *

As the rumbling yawn shakes the ground beneath him, Aang leaves his new friends to check on his old one, scurrying up the wall of the broken iceberg into the hollow center where Appa lies.

“Appa!”

He slides down the cold surface and jumps into the air, falling as softly as a breeze onto his friend’s massive head. Appa does not respond to his touch or the sound of his own name.

“Are you alright?”

He hangs down until he’s right in front of Appa’s face.

“Wake up, buddy.”

Aang gently pulls open Appa’s right eye. When he removes his hand, the eyelid falls back shut. There is an old Air Nomad saying that goes, “Let sleeping bison lie,” but an iceberg floating in the sea is no place for a nap. If there wasn’t an Air Nomad proverb that said something to that effect, Aang would invent it himself and tell it to everyone he met.

He lands in front of Appa’s face and plants his hands underneath Appa’s upper lip. Bumi once said that he should always lift with his knees, so he does that. It doesn’t surprise him that even the fleshier parts of a flying bison are so heavy. When you weigh ten tons, there’s plenty of weight to go around.

His new friends come around the wall to find them. The boy gasps dramatically at the sight of Appa, but Aang is focused too much on waking him up to make the introductions yet.

After a moment of struggling, Aang feels the first sluggish movement of his oldest friend. Appa’s mouth opens and his tongue comes up, lifting Aang off of the ground.

“You’re okay!” he shouts amid his laughter.

Aang doesn’t know it yet, but it’s the first time he’s laughed in a hundred years.

Aang doesn’t know it yet, but it’s the first time the world has heard its avatar laugh in a hundred years.

**Author's Note:**

> Starting off Aang Week with something simple.
> 
> To paraphrase a comment one of my readers made on another of my fics, I gave myself a cavity writing this.
> 
> Thanks for reading!  
> Sincerely,  
> A.F.S.M.A.S.


End file.
